


Our Grace is Multiplied

by whiteraven1606



Series: Three [6]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Conditioning, Culture Shock, Dehumanization, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-OT3, Protectiveness, Recovery, Space Battles, Spoilers, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 21:13:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5800309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe would point out it is at least half Princess General Leia's fault, but not to her face, because he doesn't want her to hear him use the combined title. He fixed their shortage of pilots and ships problem, so there's that. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Grace is Multiplied

****

Rey frowned at Luke Skywalker as he slowly opened his eyes and that crease in his brow deepened as he looked at her. She tucked her stray hair behind her ears. "You were very bright. And...big."

He blinked several times and then rubbed at his face with his left hand. "Who taught you how to project like that?"

"No one. I just can." She folded herself into a sitting position and rested her elbows on her knees. "Sir, you seemed worried when you were looking for me."

Luke pushed himself to his feet. "You need to get ready to leave."

Rey bit her lip. "Are you going to come with us?"

"No."

She huffed as he closed the door to the room he'd put her in. He'd been saying he wasn't coming back with them ever since they'd arrived. "Stubborn man." 

She flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Being in the Jedi's old temple didn't make her feel any different. If anything she felt like she was too cold all the time. The jacket General Leia had given her barely kept the chill to a bearable level.

Chewie stuck his head in and gave a short roar.

"No. He's being stupid."

Chewie sighed and turned towards the hallway as he grumbled at her.

Rey gathered up her staff and patted Chewie's arm as she slipped out past him. "He doesn't have to come help save the Galaxy again. The First Order will come for him eventually." She turned her head in the direction of stillness in the Force-feelings she was getting constantly now. She raised her voice, "Once they've tortured the information out of the members of the Resistance they don't just kill outright they'll come to kill him."

Chewie made a soft noise as they both listened to the silence down the hallway become even more silent.

Rey pushed down the urge to smile grimly and cupped her hands to project her voice even more. "I think it'll come down to General Leia. The ex-Stormtrooper children would definitely be tortured if they weren't killed outright protecting her. Everyone else in the Resistance would die to protecting them so General Leia would be one of the few..."

He came down the hallway moving at the fastest speed she'd seen out of him yet. He threw a bag at her. "Let's go."

Rey let Chewie grab and pull her into a hug with one hairy arm as they watched Luke all but stomp away. She hefted the bag and hurried after him. Chewie followed, quietly grumbling about the amount of stairs down to the ship.

Since she was keeping to Luke's speed as she trailed him down the steps, Rey clearly saw when Luke hesitated at the bottom of the _Millennium Falcon_ 's ramp. Chewie went around them and on into the ship. 

R2D2 beeped from the top of the ramp that the ship was ready to launch.

Rey stopped a few steps from him. "I'm sorry."

He looked at her and then back up at R2D2. "Why apologize? You aren't wrong about the First Order."

Rey leaned her staff against the ramp's retraction pole. "Where I grew up you have to turn in scrap for rations." She caught his eyes as he turned more towards her. "One of the other scavengers lost their mate in a bad fall inside one of the hulls of the Imperial ships we were stripping for scrap."

The skin around his eyes tightened as he watched her.

"The survivor quit doing anything. They just sat at spot their mate had died and did nothing. No work, no food." Rey lifted her chin. "I was the only one that made them eat. Everyone else just went on like nothing had happened. I didn't sleep for three days getting enough scrap to keep us feed. On the fourth day they got up and went back to work."

"Your point?"

Rey huffed and grabbed her staff. She very carefully didn't stomp up the ramp. She turned back towards him when she got to the top. "My point is get off your ass and get back to work, Master Jedi."

****

Poe had given up on convincing the ex-Stormtroopers that they didn't need to polish every surface they got near. He'd even used the base's move as a reason to leave things be, but that had caused one of the kids to burst into tears because the First Order would have punished them for anything less than prefect cleanliness.

He stared at the gleaming landing strut of his X-wing as BB-8 trilled at him about the kids having finally gotten the last of the sand from Jakku out of the droid's crevices. "That's great, Buddy." Poe pulled his comm unit from his belt as it beeped at him. He grimaced at the summons. He patted BB-8 as he headed for the General's quarters. "I wonder if she's finally going to punish me for getting the kids started on calling her Princess General."

BB-8 helpfully informed him that some of the pilots had picked up the term from the kid troopers and were using it sparingly when they were certain that the General couldn't hear them.

Poe rolled his eyes as he held the door for BB-8. "Sorry, but that's not has helpful as you think it is, Buddy."

With a rude noise, BB-8 turned and headed down the hallway for Medical.

"Have the medical droid translate for you and tell Finn I'll join him for midday meal." Poe didn't wait for BB-8's response, seeing as it was probably going to be either rude or sarcastic. He grinned to himself, because any response would definitely have been both rude and sarcastic. He reached the General's door and knocked.

"Come in."

He scanned the room absently as he came to the corner of her desk. "You asked to see me, General?"

She looked up at him with that drool expression that told him she was thinking about dropping him in the nearest sun. "Sit, Dameron."

He settled across from her. "How much trouble am I in?"

The General huffed and then smiled at him. "I think that depends on how much you like shifting crates."

Poe clasped his hands. "Depends on the amount of crates."

That got him a soft chuckle. She shook her head and pushed a data sheet across the desk towards him. "I have a time sensitive mission for you. I've been putting it off, but it needs completed before we move in case you happen to be followed."

Poe read the information and then lifted his head to stare at her. "You really want me to take Finn and our only two-seater X-Wing, the one we use for training newbies, and go buzz a First Order training base for Stormtroopers? Did I read this right?"

She leaned forward and rested her arms on her desk. "I wouldn't advise actually buzzing it."

He snorted as he leaned back. "Finn walked all of two feet yesterday before needing a nap."

"Yes, I've been informed." She cocked an eyebrow. "I was rather hoping you would manage to do this without having to land."

Poe looked down at the data again. "Why not wait until we have more pilots and use Maz's place as a stopover? They already know where her system is."

"We don't have ships for new pilots to fly."

Poe scrunched up his nose. "This isn't about ships. Even if this is the base that handles teaching TIE pilots, that doesn't make it..." He scrubbed his hand across his chin. "It's about the kids. You want to see how they'll act without Finn or me around."

Her smile was small, but pleased. "There's a reason you're my best pilot, Poe."

He frowned. "The kids would just default to Jaydavi as their adult, though." He checked the data again. "Ah, fuel enough for two X-Wings. Do we have an astromech droid that can slave the weapons to the two-seater's controls besides BB-8?"

"I'm sure we can find one. I wouldn't be able to put BB-8 in another X-Wing than yours."

Poe was pleased to hear that she thought BB-8 was that loyal, but he personally thought if she ordered BB-8 to go then the droid would. "Thanks, General."

"Don't thank me yet." She pushed another data sheet towards him.

Poe read the new sheet and then looked at her. "My last shopping trip didn't go that well."

"I think that depends on who you ask." Her smiled widened. "I also happen to know you owe someone a lot of decent liquor."

Poe covered his face with his hand. "Oh, yeah, alcohol and forty sets of clothes..."

"Two sets for each of them until they develop their own tastes and I think your two adult ex-troopers might like their own clothes as well."

Poe groaned and curled forward to rest his head on the edge of her desk. "Medical is going to kill me if I take them shopping." He let his head relax to one side as she patted his hair.

"I would suggest a tailor, but you'll probably have picked up another bleeding Stormtrooper that wants to defect by that point."

Poe heaved a sigh. "I'm _not_ collecting them."

The General laughed outright at that. "I think that's debatable. Get going, Dameron. You have a mission to prep for." She patted his head again. "Make sure you explain the tracking beacon in the identification tags to them."

Poe sat up with a frown. "They don't have..." He took the small box she pushed across the desk. "Right." He opened the box and stared at the topmost tags for Finn.

"I figured you wouldn't mind."

He glanced up at her as he shifted the tags with his finger. "No, I don't mind." He smiled at the set for Jaydavi. "I take it Finn didn't mind either."

"He didn't seem to mind. C-3PO was doing the explaining, so I wouldn't blame Finn if he quit listening partway through."

Poe snorted as he closed the box back up. "Finn would have listened to the entire thing." He licked his lip. "General, about the kids..."

She held up her hand. "They'll be alright, Poe. I have no intention of trying to send them anywhere even if they react horribly to not having their chosen adults on base. I just need to know how they'll do." She took the data sheets back as he held them out to her. "We don't have anywhere to send them regardless. No one has ever dealt with children trained to be Stormtroopers before. The most similar situation would be younglings that were training to be Jedi before they died."

"Only they...died."

"Exactly."

Poe sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Noilo asked me at morning meal when they were going to have blaster practice. I might have said it was up to you."

"Is that why I've had three extra child guards today?"

"Possibly."

The General shook her head. "You are so much trouble, Dameron." She waved him away. "It can be something for them to do while you are gone. Out. Do your best to get back before we're done moving crates."

Poe threw her a sloppy salute. "More tea for the General, got it." He waited until he was at her door before saying, "Ma'am." 

He ducked the data chip she threw at him and smiled at her laughter as he closed her door behind himself.

****

Poe settled on the edge of the cot in Finn's room as Jaydavi stood stiffly at the foot of Finn's bed. "You can sit down. Relax. Neither of you have done anything wrong."

Jaydavi frowned as he sat on the end of Finn's bed. "My internal panic is practically automatic."

Finn shrugged as Poe looked at him. "I think dropping Captain Phasma down a garbage chute helped me get past..."

Jaydavi leaned forward and interrupted Finn, "You _did_ put her down a garbage chute? I heard one of littles telling another one you had, but I didn't believe it."

Finn grinned. "Yeah. Han and Chewie helped. She was so mad. Cursing the whole way down." He made a face. "I'm sure someone got her out before the compactor cycled, but I picture her having rations docked for getting her shiny armor dirty."

"You should mention it to the Gerenal when you have a chance. She'll find it funny." Poe grinned as he opened the box the General had given him. "Here, these are for you both." Poe worked on separating the tags. "They are identification tags for you to wear..." He stopped as he noticed that both of them had gone very still. "What?"

Finn curled his hands in his lap. "I thought...Well, no, it makes sense." He nodded.

Jaydavi leaned forward and peered at the tags. "Melts a hole in your chest, I guess?" He turned towards Finn. "We should show them the trigger in the helmets. It'd be a faster death at least."

Poe shook his head. "No." He frowned as he set the tags aside and pulled his own out from under his shirt. "These are used to find my body if I'm lost in battle. To identify me so I can be returned home."

They stared at him uncomprehendingly and Poe felt like he was wading through a field of ship mines with a malfunctioning scanner.

He held his tags out and turned them so they were readable for the other two. "They list my name, rank, and a serial number that'll bring up my record in the Galactic database. There's a built in chip that'll ping any passing ship if I activate it or if my ship has been destroyed."

"They...don't kill you?"

Poe tucked his tags away. "No." He held Jaydavi's tags out towards him. "You mentioned a trigger in the Stormtrooper helmets."

He took the tags gingerly and turned them over to read. "Yes. Kaleine's squad is too young to know."

Finn held out his hand for his tags. "It's Phase Two training. You learn how to trigger it like a reflex." He frowned as he read his. "This has part of your name on it. Is it wrong? I thought second names weren't common property, but more like squad property. If squads had their own property."

Poe nodded. "It's easier to find you in the database with a last name. The General thought she was being cute." Poe poked Finn in the shoulder. "Also, you are welcome to be part of my squad."

"Oh." Jaydavi grinned as they turned towards him. "Sorry. I just realized what the mad pilot was meaning when she was trying to explain that fraternizing is handled differently here."

Poe huffed and rubbed the back of his own neck. "I don't even want to know why Jassika and you have been talking about fraternizing." He pointed at Jaydavi's tags. "Check yours."

"Jaydavi Finnscean." He looked up at them. "What does it mean?"

Poe glanced at Finn. "Finn's name and then part of an old Alderaan word that means rebel."

They both started to smile as it sank in.

"Finn's rebels." Jaydavi threw the tags' chain over his head and settled them on his chest. "I think we found the right second name for the littles."

"Last name. Second names are sometimes called middle names." Poe made a gesture with his hand at their expressions started to become dismayed. "Don't worry about. You're perfectly fine with just the two names. Promise."

Finn turned his tags over and wrapped them in his hand. "Where are we going?" He waggled the hand holding the tags at Poe. "We're getting these now for a reason. The base is packing, but we're not allowed to help."

Poe patted Finn's hand. "You two not helping is more about you both healing than anything else, but, yes, the General wants us to take a look at the system Jaydavi and Kaleine's squad came from." He watched them both stiffen slightly. "We're supposed to scan it and then go shopping."

"Shopping?"

Finn slipped his tags on. "I'm not supposed to walk more than the length of my room for at least two more days. Snap made it sound like shopping was a _lot_ of walking."

"It is if you go with Jessika." Poe grinned. "Of course, the last shopping trip I went on was cut short when I met Kaleine."

Jaydavi fiddled with the tags against his chest. "Is it wrong I liked the idea of them not being able to capture me alive?"

"No, it most certainly isn't wrong." Poe felt like his own tags were weighing far more than they possibly could. "I can't promise you'll never be captured, but I can promise that the General would send someone to get you." He pointed at Finn. "He didn't find me on Jakku after we escaped the _Finalizer_ because the General had sent Jessika to rescue me."

Finn and Jaydavi exchanged looks.

Poe stood and clasped them each on a shoulder. "Understand something. Even if the First Order ever captures you, even if they reeducate you, they won't get _you_."

"Recondition. It's only reeducation in Phases One and Two."

Poe squeezed both of their shoulders. "We are totally making a Stormtrooper to Basic translation set for me on the way there. I really don't like not knowing what you're hearing when I say something."

Finn snickered and leaned into Poe's hold. "Stormtrooper to Basic. Like it's a seperate language."

They broke into laughter as Poe mentally listed all the things he needed to remember to tell the General before she tried to give Kaleine's squad identification tags.

****

Poe held Kaleine's hand as BB-8 loaded up into the two-seater X-Wing. "We'll be back in a few days."

The rest of the squad was ranged around the landing field. Several were gathered around Finn where he was sitting on a crate and others around Jaydavi near the Snap's X-Wing that they were borrowing.

Kaleine nodded. "I know." She watched the preparations. "We'll do what we're ordered to do."

Poe heaved a sigh and pulled her in to lean against his side. "I know. Work on not hoarding food. Don't have more than two of the squad follow Pava. It worries her and I'll hear no end to it from her." He smoothed her hair with his free hand. "I'm planning on bringing you all some candy."

"We like candy." Kaleine relaxed into the hug after a few moments. "When you have end up in a firefight do you best to aim for the Stormtroopers' left shoulders, please."

Poe tried not to shiver at the feeling her use of 'when' sent down his spine. "Why the left shoulder?"

Noilo appeared on the other side of Kaleine. "Left shoulder?"

Kaleine nodded. "Most everyone is trained to be a right shoulder fire position."

"True."

Poe bit the inside of his cheek to keep his anger under control. "Why's that important?"

Finn limped to them and leaned on the ladder leading to their cockpit. "Least chance of decommission if a trooper is hit in the left shoulder. Legs mean you can't walk. Torso means you might not be worth the trouble. Right shoulder means you might not be able to fire a weapon."

"Left shoulder. Got it." Poe pulled Noilo into a quick hug. "I know you and Kaleine will look after everyone. Try not to upset the General. We'll be back in no time."

****

Poe was impressed with Jaydavi's handling of Snap's X-Wing as they came out of lightspeed at the edge of the system. "Okay, minimal comms until we're back to lightspeed."

"Acknowledged." 

Jaydavi's ship fell in behind Poe as they streaked towards the only planet in the system that the scans said could sustain humans. "Finn?"

"Umm?"

"No scanners? Really?"

"Not that I know of. It isn't supposed to be noticed. My Academy only got attention when the First Order celebrated a new cycle of Stormtroopers graduating. I didn't really pay attention. Formation was almost always boring."

"Ceremonies in formation are always boring." Poe resisted the urge to ask what happened to anyone that fell out. He was pretty sure the answer was punishment or decommissioning. "You really okay with his last name being Finnscean?"

Finn reached past the headrest and patted Poe's shoulder. "It's fine. I knew when the first of Kaleine's squad came in that I had just become something bigger than I really am in their eyes."

"I meant it when I said that you're welcome on my squad."

"Just how big is your squad?"

Poe smiled as he angled them to approach under the swing of the planet's biggest moon. "Well, depends which squad you mean."

"I didn't think we were talking your squadron, Poe."

He turned his head and grinned over his shoulder at Finn. "Neither did I. You and Rey are my squad." He shifted back around and kept half an eye on Jaydavi's position relative to his own.

"Would you share your name with her too?"

Poe frowned as BB-8 reported no signals from the planet. "If she wanted. Finn, we should talk about what it normally means to take another person's name..." The was a flare as something launched from the planet. Poe swung them around hard as his wingman kept with him. "What the kriffing hell was that?"

"Oh. Not good."

Poe could hear Finn punching up the weapons system. "Define 'not good,' Finn."

The radio squawked. "Commander, that's a training flight. They are going to see us within a few minutes."

"Roger." Poe threw them into a dive. "Anywhere on the planet they won't fly over?"

Jaydavi's X-Wing tightened up on their port side. "Follow me."

Poe saluted as Jaydavi's X-Wing passed them. "The General is going to throw a fit at me."

Finn laughed as he kept watch on the scans. "You? I'm going to be in so much trouble with Medical."

"Only if we have to walk. You are totally staying in the ship. If something goes really wrong BB-8 can get you back to base."

BB-8 practically screeched that Poe was not getting left behind again.

"I think BB-8 is objecting to that idea."

Poe leaned on the controls to keep up with Jaydavi's maneuvers as they flew into a canyon. "No one is planning on being left behind. Either of you. Now, quiet. I see where we're headed and I'm busy flying."

They twisted into a turn that took them straight into a large outflow tunnel. Poe slowed down as Jaydavi put out his landing gear. They set down gently and Poe let BB-8 shut them down to minimal power.

Jaydavi made a hand signal Poe didn't know.

"Damn."

Poe looked over his shoulder at Finn. "What'd he say?"

"He saw a single trooper up ahead. Which is odd. We're...They're never in less than a pair."

Poe unbuckled. "Which makes you managing to get me to the hangar of the _Finalizer_ without getting stopped all the more insane." He flipped the switch to pop the canopy. "Let him know to stay put. I'll take a look."

Finn squeezed his shoulder as Poe started to reach for the edge of the cockpit. He whispered, "Be careful." He made a complicated hand signal at Jaydavi as Poe climbed down the side of the X-Wing.

Poe eased his way down the tunnel, watching for signal lines and traps, until he came to a corner. He peeked around the edge and cocked his head.

A single Stormtrooper stood in the middle of the tunnel with her hands up. She was even shorter than Kaleine and was only in the blacks, no armor.

Poe frowned. "What are you doing?"

She started to cry. "I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to be outside of the perimeter."

"What?" Poe stepped a little further out. "Why are you..." He looked her up and down again. "Designation?"

She sniffed. "I don't have one yet."

Poe licked his lips. Phase One with no armor. He motioned her towards him. "Where's your armor?"

She hunched down and curled around herself until she was a crying knot of distress. "I know I shouldn't have taken it off."

Poe slipped past her as she hid her face in her knees. He scanned down the two side tunnels behind her and then went to the next junction. He could barely make out a pile of armor in the glum down the tunnel in the direction of the base. He hurried back to her. "How long have you been gone?"

She kept her head down. "I only came to see if it was real."

Poe frowned. "If what was real?"

She turned her head to look up at him. "What?"

Poe blew out a breath. "Alright, you get a designation if you show me what you were coming down here to see. Sound good?"

She wiped at her face. "You can give designations? T-116 says we only get them once we prove we can contri-contribute to the First Order."

He pried her little hand from around her knees. "I'm getting pretty good at giving designations. Let's call you Cerri. If you don't like it we'll change it later. Up."

Cerri blinked up at him. "There's no numbers? Everyone gets numbers."

Poe frowned at her. "Show me what you came down here for first."

She frowned, but moved down the second side tunnel and touched a block of the side of the tunnel that looked just like the rest. The side of the tunnel lit up as bio-essence in the tunnel side started to glow.

Poe stared at the numbers and letters until he saw it. He stepped forward and hovered his hand over the glowing letters of KN-0125. "He decommissioned himself."

Cerri stared at him. "You aren't an officer, are you?"

He grinned down at her. "You ever hear of FN-2187?"

"He's a myth. T-121 says so."

"Trust me when I say I'd like to punch both T-121 and T-116. Come on, Cerri." He looked over the list with Kaleine's squad numbers clearly in progress near the end. "How do the letters get made?"

"I make them."

Poe whirled and brought his blaster up to point at a man in a black uniform type that Poe hadn't seen before. He could feel Cerri slip behind him. "Why?"

The newcomer traced a K with his fingers. "Someone needs to remember they were real. We're not supposed to admit they existed."

Poe looked the list over. "Who are you?"

"T-121." He grinned. "You could try to punch me, if you want."

Cerri stuck her head out from behind Poe. "He teaches most of the hand-to-hand combat classes."

Poe nodded. "The squad that ran. They are mostly sleeping in my room these days. They haven't told me what's wrong with the room we gave them to sleep in until we can get them all assigned rooms. Maybe you could tell me what the problem is. I haven't gotten around to asking Finn or Jaydavi."

T-121 blinked. "Who?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know their names. Finn was FN-2187 and Jaydavi was JY-0025."

Behind him, Cerri gripped the seam of Poe's flight suit. "No numbers."

Poe spared her a quick grin. "That's right."

T-121 started to tremble. "They made it?"

With a frown, Poe holstered his blaster. "Yes. Did you...You were told they were killed, weren't you?"

He nodded as he bent forward to rest his hands on his knees. "They made it." He looked up at Poe. "He's real? FN-2187...Finn?"

"I'm real."

Poe frowned at Finn coming slowly towards them. "You were supposed to be not walking."

Finn shrugged as he looked at the faintly glowing wall. "You were taking too long." He ran his fingers across the number closest to him. "You have the mix you're using for this?"

"Yes." T-121 pulled a straight edge and a bottle from behind a panel near the floor. "Here."

Finn took the tools and grinned at Poe. "We don't have a big enough ship, you know."

Poe grinned back. "We'll just have to steal one. I'm pretty convinced this is the TIE pilot teaching base."

T-121 stared at them. "You can't _steal_ a TIE fighter."

Cerri tugged at Poe's flight suit. "Why do you need to steal a ship? Won't that get you in trouble?"

Poe patted Cerri's head. "You'll see and probably." He grinned at T-121. "Finn and I have already stolen one once."

Finn snorted as he crossed out KN-0103 and wrote Kaleine in above it. "And that went so well."

"We only crashed a little."

"Uh huh." Finn turned towards Poe. "You realize the General is going to ground you, right?"

"I did say I'd probably get in trouble." He shrugged. "Not that the Princess General is going to care if we pull off what I think she might have sent us to do."

"She's going to hit you for Kaleine's squad spreading that title around." Finn finished the last of the squad's names. "What do you think for an overall squad name?"

"More like a platoon." Poe held out his hand. "Give."

Finn handed the canister over. "What do you think she sent us to do beside recon?"

"I'm thinking we give them hope and with a little luck we start a Stormtrooper rebellion." Poe finished with a flourish. "There's never been one of those before. You'll become a legend, Finn."

"Didn't really think about becoming a legend. I just needed a pilot."

Poe smiled wide as he went past Finn to check the tunnel. "Still do."

"Yeah."

Cerri tugged on Poe's flight suit. "What'd you make it say?"

Poe grabbed her up and set her on his hip. "Kaleine's 125th Platoon. I think she'll like naming the Platoon for KN-0125."

T-121 eyed him as they headed down the tunnel. "Headcount is at the end of the hour. We have to get back."

Finn leaned on the tunnel wall. "How many officers are stationed here?"

T-121 frowned. "There's only five left and I know two are very mad at the Order right now."

"Punishment for the escapes." Finn leaned around the corner and then back against the tunnel wall. "How often are they changing the codes?"

"They left them alone. Our Code Six is faulty, but Command has never sent us the repair personnel to fix it."

Finn snorted. "We had our Code Six go down and we were stuck using all zeros for three months."

Cerri frowned at them. "T-116 says that the Code Six isn't supposed to break."

With a shrug, T-121 glanced at Poe. "What we teach and what reality is actually like aren't always the same, C-Cerri."

She beamed. "No numbers."

T-121 smiled back. "No numbers." He grabbed Poe's elbow. "Can you get her somewhere safe?"

Poe nodded. "Yes, I can. I have an idea though. Want to be a Resistance fighter?"

****

Jessika Pava sat in the corner of Command as General Leia paced. The two kid troopers that were following her this morning where lined up beside her with the four that were for the General. She passed her pouch of dried space pears to the kid next to her. "Remind me which one you are."

"Kann, ma'am."

Jessika nodded and then pushed on the pouch as Kann tried to hand it back. "Pass it down the line." She watched the General for a few more minutes. "When do you change shifts?"

"At the hour mark."

Fifteen more minutes then. Jessika watched the reports on the base's packing roll through as the General paced. "Like being able to come into Command?"

"It is more active than the hallway."

Jessika nodded. "True." The General motioned for her. "Keep the pouch until I get back." She slipped up beside the General as she turned to head through the back of Command to the hallway that connected to the General's quarters.

"Lieutenant Pava. How much do you trust Commander Dameron?"

"What did he do now?"

The General smiled as she ushered Jessika into her quarters. "He hasn't reported yet."

"Uh huh. What do you expect him to have done?"

General Leia held out a data sheet to her.

Jessika read it over and groaned. "I can't let him go anywhere by himself." She flushed at the General's expression. "Sorry, General." She handed the data sheet back. "Do you need me to go rescue them?"

"Perhaps." She sat down and motioned for Jessika to sit as well. "I think Finn started something when he defected."

"You do realize he was just running away, right? He had no intention of fighting with us until the whole thing with Rey. And, why am I questioning you, of course you know all this." She took the glass General Leia pushed across the desk to her. "Sorry. You were saying, General?"

"What he started could catch in the Stormtrooper ranks. It could cripple the First Order."

"If only it where that easy." Jessika took a sip of her drink. "The kids thought Finn was a myth. So will all the rest."

"Possibly. Do you have any ideas on helping the information to spread that he's real and free of the First Order?"

Jessika sat down her drink and leaned forward. "I might. The kids chatter a lot while they clean."

****

Taking the Commander center of the training base went well. It helped that personnel under T designations were allowed about anywhere. Poe checked the controls for any hidden switches as Jaydavi tied the three First Order loyalists up.

"Why do you want to side with the Resistance?"

Poe lifted his head to watch Finn question the two they hadn't tied up yet.

The older Captain that was the head of the base lifted his chin. "Attachments happen even though they are frowned on and mine was one of those executed for KN-01 series squad having escaped."

Finn glanced at Poe.

Poe looked the Captain over as BB-8 reported there weren't any self-destructs in the area. "Your woman was killed."

"My man, but yes."

Poe watched the rest of the officers' reactions from the corner of his eye. "How do you get new troopers?"

"They are being mostly breed these days." The Captain nodded towards a console. "There's a list. We're due for six hundred births this week alone."

Poe ducked back under the console he was checking to take a deep breath. "Supplies?"

"Shuttles we man to supply depots a few systems over. We rarely get new personnel unless there's been a death in Command."

Poe looked over the top of the console again. "Right now I have forty-two former Stormtroopers all with names, no serial numbers, that have decided they like the Resistance better than the First Order."

Jaydavi patted his side. "They fixed a lung wound on me. And there are pills to take just to dampen the pain."

Poe frowned over at him. "You are supposed to tell the medics when you have any pain. The painkillers are for stopping pain, not just making it bearable."

Jaydavi grinned at the Captain. "They say stuff like that all the time."

Finn nodded. "I was wounded by Kylo Ren's lightsaber in the back and they took me from the battlefield back to their base. They don't leave their people behind."

Poe sighed. "The point I was trying to make is that I'd like you to pretend you are still loyal to the First Order and keep getting supplies for the base."

The Captain cocked his head. "You want to seed traitors into the ranks."

"Someone has to decide where people get assigned, don't they?"

Finn sat on the edge of one of the consoles. "There's usually two that make the differentiation decisions."

The other officer not tied up spoke quietly, "They were both killed for not stopping the escape." She exchanged looks with the Captain. "We're supposed to pull two from the Cadet track to replace them."

Poe grimly smiled. "High Command in a little bit of disarray after losing Starkiller Base?"

The Command staff all blinked at him.

The Captain pulled out a chair to sit in. "It was really destroyed, then?"

Poe looked at Finn, who was staring at the Captain. Poe motioned BB-8 to scan the hallway. "You don't get news?"

The female shrugged. "What we don't know we can't say in front of the younger troops."

With a nod, Poe gestured at Finn. "Finn and I helped destroy it."

Jaydavi beamed. "He's Black Leader!"

Poe rubbed at his ear. "I don't think they'll know what that means..."

The Captain shook his head. "No, we know. We get the Enemy List." He nodded at a console. "May I pull up the list?"

Poe nodded and kept a close eye on the man as he punched a couple of buttons. One of the tied up officers made an angry noise and the female that wasn't tied up kicked at the first one. Poe leaned forward and scanned the list. "Uh, they have Jess' name spelled wrong. She'll be very upset."

Finn sighed. "She'll laugh and you know it."

Poe lifted an eyebrow. "True. She will laugh. She'll also be annoyed." He sat down across from the Captain. "Want to be a Resistance fighter?"

The Captain smiled grimly. "Absolutely." He pointed at the console. "I might be able to be of assistance to the Resistance." He looked at Poe. "I'd like to earn a name."

****

Poe stared at the freighter. "You realize this went missing four years ago, right?"

The Captain, newly dubbed Captain Romi, nodded. "It has sat here for some time. Orders were to keep it hidden. I think they were just trying to deny your...our cause the supplies. And kept it in case they needed to set traps for you at some point."

Poe smiled wide as he read the freighter's identification number. "Probably. I've never seen the First Order use X-Wings." He turned his head towards Captain Romi. "You have any pilots that could 'die' this week?"

Captain Romi smiled. "The loss rate is usually nine a class. Current class hasn't lost any, but they have one pilot that I think should have been any other job. We'll blame a crash on him and give you ten. You can decide what to make him instead of a pilot."

Poe inspected the hatch of the freighter. "Do they get any say in what they end up assigned to?"

"No. Later in life, when you've proven loyalty, rarely, perhaps, but mostly the only choice they get is upper, middle, or lower bunk."

Poe triggered the hatch to open. "I'd like to get a copy of the protocols used in training."

Captain Romi held out a data chip. "I've been holding it since the day after the executions. I was hoping I'd have a chance to smuggle it out."

Poe took the data chip and tucked it into the pocket of his new flight jacket. "I'm sorry about your man."

With a sigh, Captain Romi lead the way into the freighter. "Making the Order suffer won't bring him back, but it _will_ give me pleasure."

Poe fired up the computer and watched it boot. "That reminds me...Do you happen to suspect anyone of being able to move rocks or anything else Force related?"

Captain Romi's eyebrows went up. "I have a list for that. Why?"

Poe stared at the manifest, if even half of them could be made to fly...He looked at Captain Romi. "I want to take them and the pilots with us."

"There's six of them. I'll have them pulled from classes."

Poe nodded. "What's the easiest position to hide one of our people in here? I'm going to guess sanitation."

That got him a short laugh. "You would guess correctly."

****

Poe thought he had a good excuse to skip shopping. It took them two days to get everything set up with a promise for a Resistance fighter to arrive a few days from the time they departed. Poe listened to BB-8 chatter as they strapped in kids in a range of ages into the few seats behind the freighter's cockpit. "Good?"

Cerri smiled up at him. "Yes." She bounced a bit, until Tovin, formerly T-121, laid a hand on her knee. "Sorry."

Poe tapped Tovin's hand. "Let her bounce. It isn't a punishable thing unless she bounces out of the harness." Poe headed back to the freight bay. "Get our ships slotted in okay?"

"Yes." Jaydavi grinned. "There are BB-8s in each of the new ones."

BB-8 made a rude noise from across the bay.

Poe smiled. "No, they are BB units, but BB-8 is unique." He eyed the young pilots ranged around the bay checking the X-Wings. "Everyone good?"

Jaydavi and BB-8 both gave him thumbs up. 

Poe responded with the same gesture and headed back towards the cockpit. He slid in beside Finn, who was in the copilot's seat. "You alright?"

Finn grinned. "I didn't have to go shopping, so I think I'm good."

Poe laughed and started firing up the engines. "Don't think this will get you out of shopping. I still owe Pava liquor and now the General will be annoyed I didn't bring her the tea I mentioned to her."

"The twenty-five X-Wings won't cheer her up?" Finn watched the boards. "We're sure there are no beacons aboard?"

"I'm sure they will, but she'll still want her tea." He started the lift off. "As sure as BB-8 can be. We're headed to D'Qar in any case. The technicians can check them all over before we move them to the new base."

Finn watched the base fall away from them as the ship climbed. "I should learn to pilot."

Poe glanced over at him as they broke out of atmosphere. "You don't sound like you really want to pilot."

With a shrug, Finn turned his seat towards Poe. "I'm a better gunner, but I think..." He frowned. "I know I should at least be able to handle the basics of flying."

"Alright. This thing is a space bantha. You learn on her and you'll be amazed at how well everything else handles." Poe reached over and tugged Finn's chair across the cockpit. "Come here."

****

Jessika Pava hated when a scramble alert came through during the night. She flailed as the alarm went off. There were...kids, kriffing hell, she had troopers in her room. "How are you all popping the locks? I swear." She scrambled into her flight suit as one child sat her boots down in front of her, turned so she could just slip her feet in them. Another one was loading Jessika's sidearm. "You all worry me."

Still another child grinned at her as they checked her flight suit's controls. "We're soldiers."

"That you are." She hurried to the landing field and crawled up into her X-Wing. The kids had gotten it cleaned the day before, so it gleamed in the thin light of dawn. "So worrying." She checked in with Flight and lifted off as Snap followed her up. "Blue Three checking in."

She acknowledged Flight and looked over the Alert report as the astromech took the X-Wing out of the planet's atmo. "Kriff."

It was the _Finalizer_ coming into the system at the other end from D'Qar's current position. So, there was that. Jessika licked her lips. They could really use Black Leader right about now. She reported the ship's identification to Flight and tightened up on Snap as they streaked out to meet the incoming ship.

They were going to die. She remembered Poe's description of a single hangar bay and times that by the whole ship...Yeah, they were going to die. If she could gain the base enough time to get the kids and the Generals out it'd be worth it.

Flight warned of another ship appearing from lightspeed far closer to D'Qar. Jessika cursed and waited tensely for the second it took her astromech to identify it as...a freighter? That was...

"All Squadrons, this is Black Leader, don't engage the _Finalizer_ yet. I repeat, don't engage."

Jessika boggled at her comm. "Black Leader?" She scrambled to click over the channel. "Black Leader?" Flight was screeching about the unauthorized signal in her other ear.

They danced back and forth on the comms for the time it took Poe to give enough codes to convince Flight it was him in the freighter. Jessika watched the _Finalizer_ closing.

"Blue Three to Flight. Can someone tell me what we're doing?"

"Hey there, Blue Three, it isn't liquor, but I think you'll like them anyway."

Jessika turned her head to scan around her. "Black Leader, where are you?"

"We're about to pass you. Don't shoot any of us."

"Us? What do you mean?" Jessika's ship shook as X-Wings...Loads of X-Wings blew past. She hit her accelerator to follow. "What the hell did you do now, Black Leader?"

One of the X-Wings slip-slid through the formation and just like that Jessika had Poe located.

"Uhm. I might have been gifted some stolen X-Wings. Like them?"

Jessika laughed as the _Finalizer_ started spitting out TIEs. "I _love_ them."

****

Rey frowned as they approached the drop out of lightspeed. Luke was getting that worrisome frown again. She was feeling terrified, but she couldn't tell if it was Luke or if it was coming from Poe or Finn. It was getting worse. "What's wrong?"

Luke glanced at her and frowned harder. "Something's happening at D'Qar."

Chewie barked that they'd just picked up a signal from the base saying they were being attacked.

Luke stood up. "Chewie and I will man the guns. You pilot, Rey."

Rey slipped into the pilot's seat. "You're the best star pilot in the galaxy. Shouldn't you fly?"

"I'm rusty." Luke cupped her shoulder. "Chewie told me about you taking this bucket of bolts through the hulls of downed Star Destroyers. You'll do fine."

Rey huffed. "You are so stubborn." She waited for them to be strapped in. "Dropping us from lightspeed!"

They came out and Rey angled them for the lump of terror that felt like Finn. There was a freighter Rey had never seen before off their dorsal midline. Their comm lit up with chatter. Rey flicked through until she found Finn.

"Finn! What's happening?"

"Rey!" Finn's voice sounded excited. "Fast version is Poe named more Stormtroopers, and we got some X-Wings in return. With pilots. I'm the freighter, but I can't help with the fight. No guns. Poe said to keep the shields up and not to plow into anything."

Rey flipped the ship to miss Finn's ship's shield field and accelerated towards the fight. "So, X-Wings are all friendly?"

"Yeah!"

"Got it." Rey rolled them to miss the incoming cannon fire from the _Finalizer_. She flicked to the internal comms. "All the X-Wings are friendly."

"You said the base was down to seven X-Wing pilots." Luke sounded far too calm to Rey's ears.

"Commander Dameron found more." Rey flicked the comms channel back to main. "Black Leader? This is the _Falcon_. We're headed to take out the ship's cannons."

"Roger that. The newbies know not to target you. Be careful, Rey."

Rey suddenly had four X-Wings as an escort as she lined up to run the ventral side of the ship. They were deadly efficient in their fire patterns and Rey had never felt more protected in any ship fire fight as she felt right then.

Chewie roared.

"Yes! I know that. I thought we fixed it."

Another roar mixed with barks.

Rey huffed and rolled the ship as they approached a canon. "Who's got a fantastic rubbish ship?" She lined up their stuck gun with the cannon as the X-Wings kept in tight with her. The cannon blew spectacularly.

Luke let out a whoop as he hit a TIE.

Rey rolled them to keep them out of ship fire and then rolled them for the next cannon to line up with their stuck weapon. "Did you miss this, Jedi Skywalker?"

Another TIE dropped away with a crippled engine as they hit the next cannon.

"Maybe, but don't you dare tell Leia."

Rey laughed as she looped them over the nose of the _Finalizer_ to run at the bridge. Why not make it a day, after all? "She's going to know anyway."

A TIE slowed up and stopped firing at them. It hung still in space for several moments.

Rey frowned as it turned and took a dive for the ship. She watched it fire on the communications array. "We've got a TIE fighter that I think is defecting!"

"This is Black Leader to any friendly TIE fighters! We can't tell you from the enemy. Go to open comms and tell us if we line up on you."

Rey rolled them to let ship fire blow past and caught a glimpse of two more TIEs firing on the _Finalizer_. "Two more TIEs. See them?"

Luke sounded a little more excited. "I can sense the difference. Rey, patch me through to the main comm line. I need to talk to our X-Wings."

Rey flicked switches as they fired on the bridge. "You're on."

"X-Wings, this is Luke Skywalker. I can sense which TIEs are friendly. If I tell you not to fire, then don't."

Rey smiled at the chorus of acknowledgments. Two TIEs joined her escort and she turned for another run on the bridge, but the ship was veering. "I think they're lining up for lightspeed."

The enemy TIEs started fleeing for the ship.

"This is Black Leader! Any TIE that switched sides disable weapons and follow us down to the surface of D'Qar."

"No!" Finn sounded frantic. "This is Finn. I used to be FN-2187. Any TIE that is staying needs to eject. I promise the Resistance will pick you up before you run out of air."

Rey frowned as their escort TIEs ejected. She angled ship's shields to nudge them closer. "Why are we having them eject?"

Luke appeared at her shoulder. "They can be triggered to explode remotely."

"Oh." Rey got the closest against the hull. She watched as the _Finalizer_ went to lightspeed. "How many do we need to find?"

Luke flicked one of her hair loops. "You tell me young Jedi."

Rey frowned and glared up at him. "Don't touch the hair." She looked back out over the area as an X-Wing approached with a TIE pilot clinging to the starboard wing. "Five TIEs, but one of them only has one person alive, so nine people."

"That's my count as well." Luke leaned over to look out the cockpit to their starboard side. "I think Finn has started a rebellion."

Rey grinned as the airlock cycled. "By accident, because he needed a pilot." She punched another button and flicked a switch to ease another pilot in. "Poe _is_ collecting people and I'm never going to let him forget it."

****


End file.
